A Change of Venue
by amaresu
Summary: Finding a new place to live is never easy, not even on the TARDIS. Thanks to palmetto for looking this over.


It was laundry day that made Ace come to the realization that they should move in together. It was painfully obvious that Hex already practically lived with her when half of her dirty clothes pile was his stuff. The fact that she was sure she'd find a nice selection of her own wardrobe in his room didn't make her feel any better. Although it probably explained what happened to her favorite shirt.

Hex was surprisingly enthusiastic about the idea. Ace had barely mentioned the idea to him before he'd pulled out some paper and a pen. "We should make a list. Of things we're looking for."

The list had turned out to be a good idea. There were a lot of rooms in the TARDIS and very few seemed to be fit for double occupancy. The few rooms they'd found that seemed to be designed for more than one person were always lacking something. "I don't see why you need to have a bathtub. What's wrong with just a shower?"

"I like taking baths. They're relaxing."

"Got a rubber ducky to take in there with you?"

The hunt for a new room derailed after that. Ace apologized almost immediately, but they just couldn't seem to get into the proper room-hunting mood. They stopped looking and kept up the same pattern of falling into whichever bed was closest. It was usually Ace's. It was the Great Swamp Debacle that put life back into the search for a new room. "I need to get some clothes from your room."

"I need to get some from your room."

"I haven't done any laundry in two weeks. I thought you said you were going to do some yesterday?"

"I got distracted."

In the end they both took some clothes from the wardrobe room and ate dinner while doing the laundry. Looking for a new room didn't go much better the second time around. They'd already looked in the corridors closest to their current rooms and found that branching out from there failed to net better results. "This one is perfect."

"If by perfect you mean completely lacking in lab space."

"The TARDIS is filled with empty labs."

"I want one in my room."

Once more the hunt for a new room found itself put to the side. The events of the Great Swamp Debacle seemed more amusing than annoying in retrospect and the idea of actually moving all of their stuff made it easy to put off the search. It was two weeks before Hex left a key card in one of his trouser pockets. "Where did you leave them?"

"Your room I think."

"I'll go there, you go to your room. It was the green pair right?"

"Yeah. The Doctor is never going to let me live this one down."

"Forget the Doctor, I'm never going to let you live this one down."

The key card was eventually found and with minor adjustments the plan went through. Shortly thereafter Ace found herself wandering the halls of the TARDIS with Hex. "I give up. Let's take that one two corridors back. You can turn the spare bedroom into a lab and I'll go to the room next door for a bath when I want one."

"No way."

"It's not a big deal."

"Nah, the spare room doesn't have the right hook-ups anyways."

After looking through three more corridors they called it a night and headed for the kitchen. Ace made some sandwiches while Hex put the kettle on. Shortly thereafter the Doctor joined them. "How goes the search?"

"Badly."

"You'd think with all the rooms in the TARDIS we'd be able to find one that works for both of us."

"What are you looking for exactly?"

Ace handed their list of requirements over. The Doctor hmmed to himself and then walked out of the room. Hex almost went after him, but Ace grabbed his arm and gestured for him to stay. Whatever the Doctor was up to, it was best left to him. Besides it wasn't like they didn't have the list memorized by that point. The next morning found the Doctor looking far too satisfied with himself. "What'd you do?"

"Do? Ace what makes you think I did anything?"

"You have that look."

"I have a look?"

"She's right. It's in your eyes."

"I may have found a solution to your problem. The two of you may want to take a look at a room I've found. Go left out of here, first right, second left, fourth room on your left from there."

"We've already looked there. Haven't we?"

"Hex is right. We looked there a month ago."

"Perhaps you should look again. Maybe you missed one."

The Doctor refused to say any more and Hex eventually pulled Ace out of the kitchen. As they walked down the corridors Ace tried to figure out how they missed a room. It wasn't possible, they'd been very methodical about checking every room. Especially by the point that they'd reached that corridor. Still she opened the door that she was certain led to a closet and found instead a room. A room that on inspection proved to have every one of their requirements, even the ones that weren't really requirements so much as hopeful wishes. The lab was almost an exact duplicate of the one in her current room and the bathroom had a jacuzzi in addition to the bathtub and shower. "How'd he do this then?"

"I have no idea. Maybe he convinced the TARDIS to make a new room."

"He can do that?"

"No matter how long I travel with the Doctor he still manages to surprise me. Best for us to just go with it."

"Of course you know what we have to do now don't you? We need to move."

"Crap."


End file.
